Not Alone
by LiKaTaSa
Summary: Liz has been keeping a dark secret from her sister and Kid finds out what it is. He doesn't understand, and she doesn't expect him to, but he can still help her. (Based on 'Last Night' by Skillet. NOT a Kid/Liz story, just as partners and close friends. Family, even. WARNING: Story contains cutting, suicidal thoughts, and partial nudity.)


Kid couldn't believe what he was seeing. She turned to him quickly, but it was all so slow. Kid could see everything. The slight swish of her dull blonde hair as it came to rest on her scar-freckled back. Her eyes widened in sync with the slight parting of her lips. Her brows twitched upwards in surprise and her nostrils flared with a sharp intake of breath. Her hands quickly came up to cover her crème brassière and her left leg raised in indignation.

But it wasn't her partial nudity Kid was concerned about.

"KID,WHAT THE HELL?!" He could hear her, but the blood rushing through his ears took the brunt of her screech.

"L-Liz..."

She froze, sensing the waver in his voice, the waver that told her Kid was on the brink of hysteria.

How come he never noticed? He's *_Kid_*, he's supposed to be hyper-observant, he should never miss a thing... he should never miss something this big, this important.

"Kid, what's-" and the realization dawned on her as she looked down at the deep scars on her wrists. They weren't as dulled as the ones on her shoulders, or the ones on her knees and the backs of her thighs. The scars on her wrists were still slightly pink, healing, but new. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, drawing her hands to her chest, palms facing herself. Her mouth opened and closed, but only choked air escaped her.

"Elizabeth... what happened?"

She choked a bit more, then averted her blue gaze to the tiles of the bathroom connected to her and Patti's room. Patricia was downstairs marveling at the Animal Planet, and Kid had come up here to call Liz for dinner when he heard a faint curse and clatter.

He looked down at the floor and saw some disinfectant laying on the floor next to an opened bag of swabs. His eyes rose to the sink to find a broken razor blade on the clean white ceramic facility.

"I-I wasn't going to..."

Kid's jaw clenched. "You weren't going to?"

"I..." She narrowed her eyes and shot him a pitiful glare. "You don't understand."

Kid chuckled humorlessly. "Evidently, I don't. I don't understand why such a beautiful, intelligent young woman such as yourself would dare to mar her body with these violent and self-destructive acts."

"I-"

"Tell me. If you weren't going to, tell me why this is all around."

She made that choking noise again before her mouth closed and her face went utterly blank. Liz looked down. "I hate feeling like... like this."

Kid took a step forward. "Like what, Elizabeth? You're not in Brooklyn anymore. Patricia isn't in harm's way."

"I... I hate... Everything. I just- I hate everything. I just want to go away and- I don't- I can't-" A sob wracked through her body. Her knees began to wobble and Kid strode forward to catch her as she collapsed. She buried her face into his collar and clutched the stiff fabric of his shirt. "I hate myself, and I just.. I'd be better off, but- I can't... I'm so- I can't cause..."

"Because of Patricia?" Liz nodded into him and let out another sob. Her tears were few and far between, but there was no doubt in the world that this girl was heart broken.

"I... It gets to a point where, I just keep bleeding- I keep bleeding and bleeding, and I feel... I feel better for a little bit. But then, since I'm always around Patti, I just- I can't- I want it to end!" This was followed by many choked sobs and whimpers, and Kid brought his hand up to her back to comfort her. He massaged large circles into her back as she shuddered and hiccuped, and he felt sick with all of the bumps and raised skins he could feel on her shoulders. He knew these weren't brought on by her own hand, but the idea of her doing such a thing made him sick with guilt.

"And I- sometimes I almost get caught by her, like, I can hear her coming, and I wipe at my arms, but it just keeps coming out... That's when I take a small break, I stop for a little bit." Kid felt like throwing up. He felt so guilty, so terrible. His heart was being crushed under all this weight, and he could feel a few tears of his own escape him.

"And why are you starting again? Why now? When you're safe and healthy?" Healthy. That was a funny thing to say, considering the blubbering, scar-covered mess she was at the moment.

"It's just... the memories, and.. and I look at myself- I just want to- but I don't- and now, I don't know what to feel, what to think!"

They sat in almost utter silence, her hiccups the only disrupting the noiseless bathroom. He pressed his mouth in to her hair and whispered, "I'm so, so sorry, Elizabeth."

"It's all my fault."

"No, it's mine. I should have noticed. Forgive me." She looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot and unfocused. She sobbed again and threw her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she repeated the apology into his ear again and again. He rubbed her backand repeated her innocence again and again.

Her sobs died down and she pulled away from him slowly, shakily. He grabbed her shoulders and she looked up at him. "I'm here for you Liz. I'm here, you know that, right?"

She averted her gaze. "Y-yeah..."

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "You don't have to deal with this alone, Liz. I'm here for you, and Patti's here for you."

"Don't tell her!" Liz blurted out frantically.

Kid sighed and nodded. "I won't tell her, but she's still here for you. You don't have to be alone."

"It's my fault."

"No it's not, Elizabeth. You'll be fine, it'll be okay."

"I'm not okay." Elizabeth growled. She shoved her wrists into his face. "Does this look like 'okay' to you?"

He pushed her hands down roughly and met her with a watery stare. His teeth were clenched and his face was red. "NO. IT DOES NOT. YOU'RE NOT OKAY."

She nodded and looked down. Kid let out a breath and raised her chin again, his grip tight. "You're not okay right now, not even a little. But you will be. Trust me."

She sniffed. "I trust you."

"Who's here for you?"

"You and Patti."

"Will you be okay?"

"I will be..."

He let go of her chin and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her shoulders tightly. "You're not ever going to be alone again."

She nodded. "I know... I know..."

He tightened his hold on her.

"Good."


End file.
